I'm not necessarily going to disagree with Terry, but I also can't
totally agree. There are instances where it is important to capture
every piece of mail that comes into an organization. As others have
noted, when incoming mail starts a workflow of some sort for processing
purposes, then it is important. Likewise, if capturing every record is
critical, being close to the receiving point is a good place for
records to be. But that has to be weighed against delaying mail and
express delivery.

In my company, back in the dark ages (the time before computers and
email), Records would open all of the mail that wasn't absolutely
personal and confidential. Anything that was related to a client matter
was copied and the copy was sent on to the consultant. The original was
immediately filed. Outgoing mail was always handled by an admin who
ensured that a copy (or multiple copies) was sent to the proper Records
area (sometimes a consultant would work with a client in one city, but
the client relationship was maintained elsewhere). Personal computers
and email pretty much killed that system. Unfortunately, the mass of
garbage email prevents us from doing something similar with email
today.

So in a normal business, I would suggest that mail and records are
different animals. But when the inbound mail needs to be captured
immediately and routed electronically for processing purposes (or in
order to maintain a proper file (and this may be the case in many
government agencies), then it makes sense for there to be tight
integration between records, imaging, and inbound mail. If capturing
outgoing mail is equally important, then records may need to be
integrated there as well.

Mail and records are technically different and while there are areas of
overlap, I know some CMDSM's (Certified Mail and Distribution Systems
Managers) who can go on about the intricacies of mail like many of us
CRMs can go on about records.

All I can remember from the CRM exam was a question about forward
sorting...

Patrick Cunningham, CRM

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